How To Read Guitar Tab

Guitar tablature (tab for short) is a system of notation that graphically represents strings and frets of the guitar fretboard.

Each note is indicated by placing a number which indicates the fret to play, on the appropriate string. With these easy instructions you will be able to understand how to read and write guitar tab in 5 minutes.

The Basics

To start out, tabs are written in lines, each line representing a string on the guitar. The thickest string being the bottom most line and the thinnest string being the topmost.

Numbers are then placed on these lines to represent finger positions on the guitar fret board. If you read the diagram below you would play this on a guitar by putting your finger just behind the 2nd fret on the 5th string (or the second thickest string). You would play this note 3 times then the 4th fret of that string then you would play that string ‘open.’ The ‘zero’ represents playing an open string (an open string is simply one that you don’t fret).

Chords

To tab a chord the notes would be placed in a vertical line upon the horizontal ones. This diagram represents a C Chord. You would strum the bottom 5 strings of the guitar in one motion if you were to read this tab properly.

The one shortcoming of guitar tab is it doesn’t usually represent how long to hold a note for, or rhythm very well. Although some good tab writers will represent it by how much space is between each note.

Tab works best if you listen to the song for guidance on timing then read the notes and practice it. Here for example is the timing of ‘Day Tripper’ by the Beatles, note the distances between the numbers, the first ’0′ would ring slightly longer then the next 4 notes and the distance between D2 and D0 would also indicate a break in timing:

A Hammer On

A hammer on is executed by picking a note and then hammering done with the fretting hand on the second note. The second note isn’t actually picked but kind of echos the first one. Here is an example of how hammer ons are written in tab: